Areta Crowell Center

(619) 233‑3432
Areta Crowell Center is a mental health and substance abuse facility that specializes in helping the uninsured. It is filled with those crazy guys you meet on the street. The ones who are screaming at people you can’t see. It also serves the very poor, single moms who are trying to make ends meet while dealing with some serious emotional issues, elderly people that don’t have anyone else to help them through tough times. Sometimes it helps people that look pretty well-​off, but for whatever reason they found the Center. A few years ago, Areta Crowell was helping me.
I won’t bore you with specifics. I needed some real help, but I was uninsured, and all I got from other places were two to three months long waiting lists. One of those clinics said, «maybe the Areta Crowell Center could take you sooner.» I called them and I was in that week.
This isn’t some glowing report. There was paperwork and other bureaucracy. The building isn’t exactly cheery. You might show up for a scheduled appointment and actually see the doctor an hour or more later. There are a lot of headaches, heck, some of the doctors I met really needed to learn to listen and we’re talking psychiatrists here. But whatever, the Areta Crowell Center helps people that no one else will.
I know people that Areta Crowell helped who are doing quite well. I know others, I still see them on the street, that aren’t doing as great. They’re alive though. I’m alive because of Areta Crowell Center.
Frankly, I am not sure about posting this. I feel pretty vulnerable and I’m definitely not looking for pity. But Areta Crowell isn’t a help you get in touch with your inner child sort of place and it doesn’t deserve a, «bright clean décor, and the secretary was so sweet», sort of review.
If I wrote about the Center impersonally I couldn’t give them five stars. I’d complain even more about paperwork and time management and the state of health care. The sort of things the Areta Crowell Center takes on aren’t that pretty. These guys are serving the poorest of the poor in San Diego and often you get what you pay for. They do what they can and they make a difference. That’s five stars.
If you have insurance and can afford your co-​pay, don’t go here. Then again, if you need help or you know someone that does, call Areta Crowell. Call them right now. Please.
(619) 233‑3432
The posted number is wrong presently.